A new court in Hamilton County is giving men and women who have served the United States of America through active duty in the nation’s military an opportunity to receive substance abuse treatment and return to leading healthy, productive lives.
Veterans Treatment Court is available to military veterans who are facing criminal charges in Hamilton County Criminal and Sessions courts. Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson says the program is designed to help veterans who are wrestling with substance abuse and have engaged the justice system.
“These are men and women who have operated sophisticated military equipment that cost millions of dollars but are struggling to pay their bills or maintain a lease because of what they’ve seen and done in the service of our country. Veterans Treatment Court is designed to provide the help they need while holding them accountable.”
“They want to regain their respect,” says Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes, who estimates that Hamilton County is home to around 28,000 veterans. “They want their lives back.”
On paper, Veterans Treatment Court is a straightforward process. Veterans who are facing criminal charges plead guilty and the judge places them on probation for 18 months. Individuals who have committed violent crimes, or are members of a gang or sex offenders, are not eligible for the program.
As the veterans complete the various stages of the program, they must hold down a job, undergo regular drug testing and appear in court once a week to discuss their progress with a judge. If they meet their obligations, the court will dismiss their charges and release them from probation.
“Our goal is to make sure they complete the program, regain what they lost and are able to return to society,” Starnes explains.
Key partners
While simple on paper, the Veterans Treatment Court program is complex in its execution. The issues that plague veterans are not necessarily easy to solve and require a multi-layered approach that exceeds the ability of the courts to administer. For that reason, Hamilton County’s program relies on a broad network of community partners that have voluntarily taken on vital roles in the process.
One such associate is the Helen Ross McNabb Center, a nonprofit provider of mental health and substance abuse services with four locations in Hamilton County. The center assesses Veterans Treatment Court candidates for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental health problems, substance abuse issues and more. This is a key service that’s both expensive and involved – and on which an individual’s participation in the program hinges.
Patterson calls partners like The McNabb Center, CADAS, Erlanger Behavioral Health and others (see the complete list of participating organizations in the sidebar) the “dots” to which the court connects them.
“They’re the ones who do most of the work,” he says. “Without them, there wouldn’t be a Veterans Treatment Court.”
Local partners also include a battalion of contacts at the Veterans Affairs covering suicide prevention, health services, mental health counseling and more.
Public officials are also pitching in. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann has made his military and Veterans Affairs liaison available, assistant district attorney Nicole Evans will be screening candidates for participation in the program, and Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp included a case manager for Veterans Treatment Court in the county’s budget.
Lauren Messer has taken this role, which will involve a litany of administrative duties as well as face-to-face time with Veterans Treatment Court candidates and participants.
Mentors
Veterans Treatment Court is not the only special court in Hamilton County, which also offers a mental health court, an adult recovery court and a juvenile recovery court, all of which also rely on public participation. However, the program for veterans does have one component the others do not: mentors.
When a veteran is welcomed into the program, the court pairs the individual with another veteran who will provide support throughout the endeavor. From accompanying the veteran to court to lending an understanding ear, the mentors are a crucial part of Veterans Treatment Court, says Starnes.
“The conversations between the mentor and the veteran are confidential. We never hear about what they discuss. That allows them to open up with their mentor, who can understand their experiences in a way no one else can.”
U.S. Army veteran Vickie Putnam is serving as a mentor for a current female participant. Putnam learned about Veterans Treatment Court while spending time at American Legion Post No. 14 and volunteered. She says it’s a vital service for people who often have nowhere to turn when in trouble.
“I know women in the service who have PTSD after being bombed in Afghanistan. Dealing with those problems causes a lot of issues and gets people in trouble. And some of those folks feel like they don’t have any support.
“But we don’t throw people away. We try to help them with what they’re going through and make life better for them.”
Getting up and running
Hamilton County’s Veterans Treatment Court exists largely due to the efforts of Starnes and Patterson, each of whom explored the concept separately before they joined forces in 2023.
Starnes learned about the existence of veterans treatment courts from his colleagues at judicial conferences in Tennessee. Inspired to take action after attending a seminar on how to launch one, Starnes and a pair of veterans began visiting treatment courts around the state in 2015 to meet with the administrators and observe their practices.
Patterson entered the picture after COVID stalled Starnes’ efforts. The criminal court judge had helped to establish the mental health and juvenile recovery courts in Hamilton County and knew the importance of securing community support.
Patterson asked Starnes to join him in October 2023. Over the ensuing year, the judges recruited partners and underwent training through All Rise, an organization that oversees treatment courts nationwide and publishes a 244-page compendium of best practices.
One year later, Starnes and Patterson launched the program, which summons mentors and participants to their respective courtrooms every Thursday.
Starnes, who’s assisted with the construction of homes for veterans, says the court is challenging him to balance encouragement with authority, both of which he must deploy as the first group of veterans begin to tackle the program.
“I sometimes have to be stern with someone. There are going to be violations, and we hold them accountable for them, but the point of the program is not to kick people out of it but to guide them through it.”
Patterson joins Starnes in favoring grace over punishment.
“After someone does things that causes them traumatic stress and develops a substance abuse issue to cope with the things they’ve seen while serving this county, they often don’t receive any help with assimilating back into society. So they naturally end up in court.
“Veterans Treatment Court recognizes that their sacrifice caused their problems and connects them with the services that can help them overcome their issues, save their family and reintegrate them back in society. They’ve earned it, and it’s our honor to provide it.”